


The 4th Marauder

by OnlyForward



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter Marauders Era, Marauders - Fandom, Snape - Fandom
Genre: Good Severus Snape, Marauderfic, Marauders, Other, Snape Is good au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyForward/pseuds/OnlyForward
Summary: Imagine a different world. Where the Marauders started out differently.  If they didn't sit with Peter Pettigrew on the train. What if they talked to the lonely Severus Snape, who was bullied by a Slytherin even upon arrival?  What if Snape became the 4th Marauder? What if Snape turned out different?
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue 

“Worthless,” his father muttered, chucking the envelope onto the grimy coffee table. Severus flinches and feels the smile drop from his face, “Just like your mother.” 

Says you, Severus thought angrily. Snape Sr. was the reason this family had been dragged down into the deep. He was a failure. He’d been so ‘romantic’ and ‘stunning’ when Eileen Prince had met him, with a steady job. Eileen had chased after him, resulting in leaving the wizarding community behind; for good. 

After Severus was born, however, Snape Sr. fell to alcohol and into a state of depression. The job was lost and the house fell into disrepair. He was raised by a father who hated witches and wizards, who shunned all elements of magic, and who was never, ever proud of him. 

In fact, the man visibly shuddered whenever coming into close contact with his own son - clearly Severus wasn’t good enough for him. Funny, since in most pureblood families, it was the other way around. The accidental magic that had delivered most of the bad karma Snape Sr. needed to receive was always blamed on Severus, whether or not it was indeed his fault. A smashed plate, Severus’ fault. A negative letter, Severus’ fault. Snape Sr. tripping down the stairs? Severus’ fault. 

At least his mother loved him. Eileen Prince was constantly fawning over Severus, telling him that he looked pale and needed to go out and make some good buddies. Severus didn’t want to go outside and make any good buddies - all of the muggle boys in the area were complete gits and bullied him daily. There was only one that caught the attention of Severus, and that was a beautiful girl the same age. She went to the posh school down the road, but there was no doubting that she was following him to Hogwarts. One day while he walked past the road, she and her sister ‘Tuney’ were walking towards the local confectionary shop. ‘Tuney’ had stepped out into the pavement while a car was coming and, completely by ‘chance’ and ‘accident’ according to local police. the car faltered and stopped, giving Tuney a chance to launch herself back onto the pavement before harm could be done. Severus knew accidental magic when he saw it and the instant he raced back home he spilled the beans to his mother. 

“There’s a witch in the area, Ma!” he whispered excitedly as he burst into the house. It was during the day, and Snape Sr. was sleeping off a hangover upstairs, groaning every five minutes. 

“Oh really?” his mother raised an eyebrow, “Who?”

“The youngest Evans’ child, Ma! She did accidental magic, I swear, I saw it! She stopped her elder sister from getting run over by faltering the car!” 

“The Evans’ child?” Eileen Prince raised her brow then frowned, “Son, are you sure you’ve got the right girl?”

Eileen worked as a cleaner for the posh school up the road, where the Evans had sent their children. She knew of Lily and Petunia - two completely opposite girls who were somehow inseparable. Petunia was sallow-faced and headstrong, with mousy limp hair and a constant frown. Lily, on the other hand, was a radiant young girl, who, although rather stubborn, was always pleasant to be around and had a mane of red hair. Mr and Mrs Evans were the couple envy of the town too - once upon a time, Eileen and Snape Sr. had been the admired couple before Eileen revealed herself and fell pregnant, cutting off the supply of money. Lily was the younger, and definitely the nicer child, likely to help someone in need. 

“I’m certain. Red hair, right? Her sister, Tuney, was there too.” 

“Tuney?” 

“Well, that’s what the younger girl called her,” Severus said bashfully.

“Her real name is Petunia, son. And the red-headed girl you are talking about is Lily. Just because a car faltered doesn’t mean that she’s a witch. It could purely be a coincidence.” 

“Its not, I know it, I do.” 

“Of course, son.” 

Severus stomped up the rickety stairs, ignoring the reason in his mind. She probably isn’t a witch, just lucky, his brain taunted, but his heart and soul ignored it. She was, she had to be. 

Not that he was ever going to approach her about it: he never would have had a chance with her anyway - there was no point in trying.


	2. I - Snarky replies can get you friends or enemies

Severus pattered onto the platform, his mother floating behind him, patting down his hair, muttering encouraging words. She pulled him into a desperate hug and he glanced around, looking for snickering bullies that would make his life here miserable. 

“Alright, Ma, that’s enough, I’m fine.” Severus pushed her away and was horrified to see that there were tears in her eyes. He looked around and gulped. terrified that a sudden bully might just pop up and start tormenting him. No. He took a deep breath. This was his new, fresh start. His new life that he could control. 

“Just don’t let them bully you,’ she sobbed. Severus nodded quickly, muttering a quick, “Bye,” before leaving her alone. He didn’t want her to taint his image. 

“Son of Eileen Prince. Filthy muggle-son,” A Slytherin fifth year grabbed his shirt collar as he entered the train. 

Severus rolled his eyes, “I actually prefer the term Half-Blood Prince. Makes it sound a little more official, y’know?” 

The bigger guy’s eyes narrowed. Clearly that joke wasn’t working, but Severus didn’t have anything else up his sleeve. That was his only weapon - sarcastic humour and this guy wasn’t hiding it funny. Great, he internally sighed. Not even a few minutes in, his new life was already as similar to the one at home as could be. 

“Let him go, Lestrange.” A boy, a first year, “Or I’ll tell Lucius Malfoy you’re already bullying the possible Slytherin candidates. Wouldn’t like that, would he? Especially when, despite the boy being half-blood, he’s a descendant of the Prince family.” The boy, who had messy brown hair, grinned at his attacker. He was partnered with two other boys - only one of whom Severus was familiar with. Sirius Black, eldest child of Orion and Walburga Black, two adults he was very well acquainted with.

“Shut up, Potter. This is not any of your business,” Lestrange sent evil eyes towards brown-hair. He dropped Severus, “Don’t go anywhere,” he hissed to him, before turning back to the trio of boys, “Sirius Black. What are you doing with those two tossers? Come, Lucius will take care of you.” 

“No thank you, Rabastan, I think I’ll stay right here. Mr Potter is a much nicer acquaintance than your crowd. despite just meeting him,” Sirius Black sassed. 

“I think I can agree,” Severus spoke up, slipping under Rabastan Lestrange’s arm and strolling over to Potter, Black and unnamed. 

“Did you just dare…..” Lestrange hissed, face turning red. 

“Yes I most certainly did,” Severus grinned. 

“Fine, but keep this in mind. You aren’t welcome anymore - any of you!” Rabastan stormed off, fuming. 

“Thanks,” Severus muttered when he was gone, “I appreciate it. Well, I guess I’ll go and find a carriage now. Bye guys.” 

Potter raised his eyebrows and turned to the others. He pulled them into a huddle and they discussed something in hushed tones. “Nope,” he announced when all three head shad returned to original form, “We’re going to find a carriage.” 

Severus slowly felt his mouth creep into a smile as he realised that these guys had wanted, had chosen to invite him into their gang. He was welcome with them. These guys had chosen him, rather than any of the other weak first years like him that were probably going to get beaten up or recruited into the Slytherin gang.


	3. II - Transport Talk

“Were you actually going to speak to Lucius if Lestrange hadn’t backed off?” Sirius asked James, resting his head on his hands on his knees. 

“No, Lucius doesn’t know me, but he does respect my father. My father has put him in his place a couple of times, almost got him kicked out. He reckons that Ol’ Lucius is up to something…something evil,” James kept a straight face. 

“Oh, please, stop with the dramatic act, James, we all know you have about as much idea as to what that means as we do,” Severus snickered back.   
“Yup,” James grinned, “Here’s the trolley, what do you guys want?” 

Severus had learnt a lot about what these guys were like in the past hour and a half. After finding an empty carriage, they had begun to do proper introductions. James Potter was the son of a renowned hair-potioneer who was planning to make it big in America this year. He was witty, funny and had a lot of ideas for pranks, and aspired to be in Gryffindor to continue the family legacy. 

Sirius had the same sort of personality, but different family background. Severus could relate to him more - harsh parenting and strict regimes - and Severus knew first hand about how vicious Walberga and Orion Black could and would be. It didn’t surprise him the they were as cruel to their own sons as they were to their distant relatives. Sirius also wanted to annoy the family by getting into Gryffindor.   
“They’ll disown you,” Severus had warned him, worried about Sirius’ future.   
“I’ll be fine,” Sirius had replied, “I’ll have thought things through then.”   
“What happens if they don’t let you come home for the holidays?”   
“I’ll stay at school.”   
“Nonsense,” James had butted in, “He’ll come home with me.”

And the final boy was quieter. Much more reserved, Remus Lupin seemed to be the antidote to the pair, the one who dulled their ideas and kept them out of trouble. He had had his head stuck in a book for the past hour but was still listening to the conversation and was the opposite of shy - he often made snide comments related to the conversation and joined in with the laughter at appropriate times. No, Remus Lupin was not ‘shy’ even though first appearances had made it seem so - his inner crazy was hidden so far on the inside it was almost impossible to view at all. 

James was loaded with dosh and easily bought sweets for himself and his friends. Severus, who had been hidden from this side of the magical community, had never had the pleasure of experiencing a chocolate frog - he barely got any chocolate as it was, and was surprised when the card on it revealed Merlin himself, the legendary figure. He stared at the card for a good minute before he realised his chocolate frog itself had escaped through the slightly ajar door. 

“Unlucky,” James spoke through a mouthful of bubblegum, “Here, take another.” 

Severus declined and instead picked up the package containing jelly beans and gave it a curious shake. “Be careful with that,” Sirius warned as he swallowed a mouthful of fizzing sweets. 

“They’re just beans,” Severus shrugged and opened the packet. He poured out a handful and frowned as James, Sirius and even Remus (who looked up from behind his book and now horde of chocolate - that guy was serious about the stuff, it was terrifying) staring as he counted eleven of them, all similar colours. Beans never tasted too different so he didn’t feel that he was making any fatal mistake. From the way they were looking at him though, it was like he was already a hopeless case. Meh- what the hell? He chucked a couple of beans in his mouth and instantly regretted it. A most repugnant and disgusting taste entered his mouth as he bit into the beans. 

“Ugh…..ugh….yuck!” Severus gagged and Sirius and James moved back out of the way, But Severus was controlled enough to release the beans into the bin in the bathroom two paces down the hallway. 

“Why…..why…..god….why didn’t you tell me?” Severus moaned. 

“I didn’t think you were actually going to put them in your mouth,” James said wide-eyes and disgusted. Severus turned to Sirius for another excuse. 

“It was funny, alright?” Sirius shrugged. 

‘And you?” Severus put his hands on his hips, gesturing to Remus. Remus bit his lip guiltily. 

“Sorry. Sirius bribed me,” he held up a chocolate frog. 

“Really?” 

“First prank of the year, check!” Sirius relaxed into his seat and propped his feet on Remus’ legs. Remus glared and pushed them off as Sirius grinned cheekily. 

“Sure, unless you count the exploding dung bomb you attached to Lestrange’s trousers,” Remus added. 

“Yeah but that was revenge,” James justified. Severus widened his eyes. 

“You did what?” 

“Sirius attached a dung bomb that would explode five minutes after to Lestrange’s trousers. Simple really.” 

“When did you do that?” 

“Before we talked to him. He is quite ignorant, and we don’t like bullies much. We had that in common when we met each other,” Sirius explained.

“By the way there is a hot girl in our year. I call dibs,” James announced.   
“Sure,” Severus agreed without thinking. He had friends - girls weren’t his mind focus for the moment - Lily Evans back at home was the one for him.


	4. III- The Horror of Boating with Friends.

Soon they were escorted off the train into small boats. It had been a tight squeeze, but they had convinced the teacher in charge that they could handle the compact space. Now the real test was whether they could not tip the boat over. 

By the way James and Sirius were rocking around punching each other, it seemed not. Severus and Remus were having a civilised conversation when Sirius suddenly shoved him a little too far - and they went flying into the lake. It was extremely refreshing - and cold. Severus felt his heart sink - these second-hand robes were already dirty enough, he didn’t need lake remains on them too. 

A gigantic force pushed the out of the depths of the water, and when they surfaced, Sirius was looking sheepish. Remus, angry little one, swum up to him and poked him in the chest, “Oi, you! You said you’d be careful! Call that careful, huh?” 

“Sorry, Remus, I’ll buy you some chocolate,” Sirius looked down at the sea, away from Remus’ fiery eyes. 

“No you won’t, you liar. You can’t, there’s nowhere to buy it from.” Remus scolded. 

James looked on in adoration as his two friends bickered. Severus and he met eyes. James started to hum a love song, closing his eyes. Severus rolled his own, but chuckled as Lupin and Black turned to stare and James, blushed, and told him to shut up at exactly them same time. 

“I’m not saying anything,” James protested, and Sirius came and ducked his head under. By the time James had spluttered to the surface, a mess, the teacher had approached in her boat and had her hands on her hips. 

“Honestly, I’m so glad I covered Hagrid’s shift this year! I cannot believe you - all of you, you said you’d be sensible in that boat, now I’m going to have to split you up - no, don’t look at me like that, you brought this on yourselves!” 

“We’re really sorry, Professor…..” James trailed off, still treading water. 

“Mc Gonagall. And sorry won’t cut it, boys. You’re lucky the Giant Squid brought you back up. I’d be in even more of a bad mood with you if I had had to have jumped in and saved you. i’m not particularly fond of swimming,” The Professor said sternly, “But as you seem to like it so much, I’m wondering whether I should just let you swim to the castle - see how you like that?” 

She looked serious about it, too. Scary, that woman. Set frown and stern manner, this was a teacher who screamed not to mess with her in any circumstances….and yet Sirius still deemed it an appropriate time to…well…be inappropriate. 

“Why don’t you come in and join me Professor?” He winked, “The water’s cold at first, but I’ll warm you up soon enough.” 

A collective gasp followed through the rest of the students, but the Professor was not affected. She simply gave him an as-if look and then magically conjured them out of the water. Shivering and cold, the boys gave a weak smile as she drained the water from their robes, returning them to their original warmth. A gentle wind shook the boat and Mc Gonagall seemed to come to the realisation that there were indeed five of them on one boat. She placed Sirius onto a boat full of some other boys - one had braces and another sported a blue scarf. Remus was placed onto one full of a crowd of girls, which he looked extremely uncomfortable with, and James onto the only one that had space - the one she had been on which had another girl. He realised with horror, that on it sat Lily Evans, hair vibrant even in the evening glow. She wrinkled her nose and shuffled an inch away from him, but they soon struck up a conversation. Unlike Remus, James seemed jolly happy with his arrangement. Severus was left on the boat they had been on in the first place, with Mc Gonagall herself. She didn’t talk but instead led the boats towards the school. 

Severus had been so busy asking he hadn’t had a proper time to admire it, but now the Professor clearly wasn’t in the mood for communicating, so he took the time they had left. It was an elegant building, with a sort of aura around it, lit up in the sky, Hogwarts just belonged. It was there, and it was meant to be there. 

They bumped against the shore of Hogwarts and who met them but Lucius Malfoy, Head Boy. 

“Have you had some trouble, Professor? Dumbledore sent me down here to look for you, the Great Hall is getting impatient.” Lucius’ blond hair flowed down past his shoulders and Sirius stared in envy, he’d always wanted long hair but his parents had wanted him to keep it tameable, “Oh, hello, Severus, I forgot you were coming this year. Enjoying the view?” 

Severus at first thought that he was referring to himself, but the waving motions were actually pointing towards the castle. Although, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if it was actually about himself, “Y-yeah,” he stuttered, “It’s great to see you.” 

“Nice to see you too. We haven’t really been properly introduced, but you seem to know who I am. Shame we haven’t really met, but my family isn’t keen on the whole muggle filth and that. And to be honest what was your mother thinking?” Lucius insulted without meaning to. 

“I’m not sure, my father isn’t worthy of her hand, he’s just a muggle.” Severus lied through his teeth. He was extremely concerned that Sirius, James and Remus could hear this awful nonsense he was talking about, but he anted to stay on the good side of important people. And he was standing next to the teacher….best to keep on the Head Boy’s good side. 

“Exactly,” Lucius declared, clapping Severus on the back as the other students filed off the boats, “Oh, sorry Minerva, I forgot to let you explain!” 

Professor Mc Gonagall clearly wasn’t overly excited with the fact that Lucius had just spilled her first name to the entirety of the First Year, and clenched her jaw, annoyed. Something about the Head Boy seemed to annoy her.   
“Lucius, I know that you are enjoying being Head Boy, but please, refrain from using my first name,” She hissed, then went back to being composed, “We were delayed because a couple of maniac boys decided that they would rather fall in the water than get sorted this evening,” She turned to glare collectively at the group of students. 

“Really? Which students?” Lucius widened his eyes in surprise.

“This one here,” She gestured to Severus, “Black, Potter and Lupin.” 

Lucius’ eyes had already widened further when hearing Severus involved, but when he herd that also Sirius was, he went mental with eye movements, “I’m sure it wasn’t Severus’ or Sirius’ fault, Professor, from past experience with the boys I can assure you that neither of them are troublemakers.”   
That was definitely a lie. Sirius was most certainly a prankster - and Lucius hadn’t even met Severus before today, there was no past experience that he could speak of! He was downright lying!

“Actually, Mr Malfoy, I believe Mr Black was the one who instigated the…..erm…..shove, for lack of a better word, that turned over the boat. And I thought you’d mentioned that you hadn’t exactly met Severus before now?” Mc Gonagall was one savage Professor, that’s for certain. Definitely didn’t like Lucius, either. Extra cool behaviour, multiple glares, she most certainly disapproved. 

“Well, yes, I don’t exactly know Severus but I know Eileen Prince and she wouldn’t raise a troublesome son.” 

“I don’t care what relations you have to these new students, Mr Malfoy, these students need to be sorted and some of them are freezing, can we please move this along?” Mc Gonagall moved forwards and the students (including Lucius) followed suit.


	5. IV - Funny, isn’t it, how a hat can define your life?

Lucius continued to annoy as they walked up. He grabbed Severus’ arm and pulled Sirius away from James and Remus. 

“You two, what was it that got you all riled up? Was it that Potter boy? Was he getting on your nerves? Lupin, perhaps? I know, she must have thrown you all together but did you have to fight on your first day?” Lucius questioned. 

“Actually, Lucius, it wasn’t like that,” Severus glanced to Sirius, gesturing that he should start to explain. 

“We happened to befriend Potter….well, I did first, then we saved Severus from one of your maniac cronies, Rabastan Lestrange, that git,” Sirius began. 

“Rabastan…..you mean you wanted to be with Potter?” Lucius spluttered.

“Oh yes, the whole bullying incident with Severus kind of put me off your crowd. Not to mention that Mummy and Daddy’s rule at home is just a little violent,” reasoned Sirius, smiling and waving back at James and Remus, who seemed a little confused by the whole situation. 

Well, to them it would probably look like Lucius, Severus and Sirius were simply old buddies, would it not? Lucius had had his arms draped over their shoulders but had removed them back to hanging down by his sides when they had announced their disloyalty. It wasn’t like the others could hear the conversation, could they, so to them the trio were all best buds….and Severus and Sirius had completely ditched there new-found friends. The pair of them indeed did look very sad, but Lucius was having trouble understanding that they really didn’t want to be with him - in fact, nobody did. 

“Wait……Severus surely you don’t feel the same way?” Lucius uttered, frowning.

“Erm….apologies about bursting your memory bubble, but can you not recall that I was the one who was actually being bullied by Lestrange?”   
“It was probably just a little bit of fun, initiation and all that, he didn’t mean any harm.”

Severus frowned. Lucius clearly wanted these two new promising young lads as recruits for his gang, but couldn’t he back off just a little?

“What is it about us anyway? Why us? We clearly aren’t interested so why don’t you go and ask some others. Hell, why don’t you go ask that blond kid over there? He looks like he’ll be a Hufflepuff, go change his mind!” 

Lucius attempted once more, “You sure?” 

“Yes,” Severus and Sirius nodded firmly.

Lucius stalked over to the blond boy, who looked surprised then ecstatic that the Head Boy was talking to him. James and Remus walked over. Remus had his fingers crossed behind his back, preying that Sirius and Severus hadn’t just decided to swap sides. 

“You…..haven’t found other friends, have you?” James bit his lip. Even the sassiest of sassy and the bravest of the brave are nothing without their friends behind them.

“No. We were trying to get that git away from us,” Severus explained to the pair, who let out a sigh of relief. Mc Gonagall opened the door using magic and it was colossal. Hogwarts was the most magnificent building, yet there were no sights to be seen. No bustling students, only the looming doors of the Great Hall, where they were to get sorted. 

“This is it. I would normally come and approach you here, give you an introduction. Tell you my name. But you know me, and I know some of you. I am hoping that some of you, during your time in this school, will mature a little and grow up to be fine adults. Perhaps, in due course, I will be looking into the faces of your own children. And it all starts here, right in this very corridor. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Which one do you belong to?” Minerva Mc Gonagall flicked the doors open to the main hall with her wand and was greeted with loud students, and centred at the front of it, Albus Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat. Upon seeing her, Dumbledore made a loud noise to quieten the Hall and Lucius snuck back to his seat. 

“Did you get a little caught up, Minerva?” he whispered as they approached the front. 

“Apologies, Albus,” Mc Gonagall cast a glance to the foursome, “Some people just don’t know how to resist the luring black waters.” 

Dumbledore smiled warmly, “Ah, well. We haven’t lost any of them, have we?” He inquired cheerily. 

“No…of course we haven’t lost any of them…” 

“The Giant Squid did his work then. I ought to thank him for that some day, diligent little fellow.” 

“Or rather, giant fellow,” James corrected under his breath, but the headmaster heard and chuckled lightly. 

“You are quite correct, Mr…ah, Potter is it? I’m a particular fan of your Father’s work.” 

“I know, I know, the hair products,” James mumbled. 

“Actually I meant the work for the Ministry, but the hair products do keep my hair nice and shiny.” 

James looked at Dumbledore in surprise and shock. Dumbledore used them? Could this popularity be getting any worse? 

“Now for the Sorting,” Dumbledore sat back. The whole room hushed again. They had returned back into murmuring while Dumbledore was having his little exchange of words down the front. 

“Adrian Adbell.” 

Ah, so, despite the surname, Sirius wasn’t going to be first. Adrian Adbell, one of those who Sirius had sat with, approached the stool and put the hat on his head. It didn’t take long before the hat announced,”RAVENCLAW.” 

Then it was time. There weren’t too many students in this year so Sirius was the next up, much to his annoyance.

“Sirius Black.” 

Sirius perched on the stool and started to pray that the hat wouldn’t sort him straight into-

“Slytherin, ey? You don’t want to be there? Why’s that? Your family, new-found friend. Ah, yes. Potter, Lupin and…Snape? I don’t recall a Snape here before.” 

“He was born by a Prince,” Sirius explained. 

“A Prince, married a muggle? How unusual….why does no one ever tell me this stuff?” 

“Well I guess when you are a hat you don’t get informed of much.” 

“Correct there, Mr Black.”

“Sirius, please. I’m really not liking the comparison to my father.”  
“Orion married Walburga, correct?”   
“Yes, you’ve got that one nailed. But can we go back to the subject of my sorting?” 

“Sorry I do tend to get completely sidetracked. To be fair, this is my only useful time of the year. One little day where I get shuffled around and then back on a shelf for me. Where were we, then? Ah, yes. You don’t want to be in Slytherin then?” 

“No. But I’m not kind, so to speak, or brave. And I’m definitely not clever.” 

“You’re witty, and funny. You have humour and you stood up for someone you barely even knew, against a student much larger than yourself. That’s what muggles call bravery, and what we here call GRYFFINDOR!” Sirius beamed and leapt over to the Gryffindor table - the whole room except Remus, James and Severus were shocked. A Black…not in Slytherin? This was un heard of! 

“Amelia Bones!” was sorted into Hufflepuff and then it was Lily Evans’ turn. 

She strode up to the hat and they talked for a while until she emerged as the hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!” 

Severus wasn’t surprised at that result, after what she had done for her sister. 

Time flew by and so soon it was Remus’ turn.   
“Remus Lupin. Got a little secret up there haven’t you?” The hat sung. 

“You can’t….you won’t tell anyone…will you?” 

“Theoretically, I’m not allowed to, so your secret is safe with me. I should probably get on a little, after all, I can’t chat too much. Any preferences?” 

“I want to be with Sirius,” Remus demanded. 

“You do huh? I thought you’d be a Ravenclaw - any reason why?”   
“Because I just do. He was my first friend, he stuck up for me and I don’t want to be alone.” 

“You wouldn’t be alone, you would have Adrian.” 

“Adbell? I’d rather stick with my own friends, thanks.” 

“So you are proposing Gryffindor then. Despite your way with words and book obsession? Doesn’t the Ravenclaw common room sound promising, nice and orderly, lots of books?” 

“You have no idea how messy my room is, do you? And by the way, I’d rather read in front of an open fire with my friends than be isolated and alone in the Ravenclaw common room. Come on, it’s clear as day that Adbell’s little friend is going to Ravenclaw too, don’t play around. I’d be the odd one out. Do you want to be the cause of that?” 

“Merlin, you are one persuading guy,” the hat gave in, “GRYFFINDOR!” Remus bounded off the stool and was greeted by Sirius. Severus was getting more and more pressured to be with them in Gryffindor now, and he was worried his mind wasn’t good enough. 

“Peter Pettigrew,” Oh, that was that blond kid that Lucius had shuffled off to. Severus was convinced that he would still be in Hufflepuff with a name like Peter…but he seemed to stand a little straighter than before. It turned out Lucius’ words had seemed to strike true to Peter’s heart, because he emerged as a new Slytherin student, joining Evan Rosier and Malfoy himself. 

Then it was time for his last friend to go up on stage and perform, “James Potter,” he twirled up to the front, receiving sniggers that he grinned back at and then waved goodbye as the hat covered his ears.

“Well hello, Mr Potter. Felt like flaunting our stance, did we?” The hat started. 

“I wanted to start this year with a bang,” James announced. 

“More like a fall into the water. Or a discovery of new friends.”

“True, true. Do you really want to actually continue talking to me? Shouldn’t we just move this along?”

“Okay, fine, whatever you want, Mr Potter.” 

“James, please. I’m not my father.” 

“Funny that’s exactly what Sirius said.” James could tell that if the hat had a face, its eyes would be twinkling right now.   
“Would you…mind if you put me with them too. Sirius and Remus, I mean. And don’t assume about Severus, either. He’s….with us now.” 

“We’ve already had multiple people break tradition, don’t try and tell me the son of a Prince is going to want to not be in Slytherin?” 

“I don’t know. But see what his heart wants, yeah?” Ah yes, the Hat thought, James Potter was a true Gryffindor, through and through. There was not even any doubt about it. 

“Point taken, James Potter. Now, let’s get you on your way, alright?” 

“Course.” 

“GRYFFINDOR!” 

Severus gulped as James grinned triumphantly and catapulted himself over to the Gryffindor table to sit with Sirius and Remus. A couple more people passed, time going faster and faster, like an hourglass that was running swiftly out of time. 

“Severus Snape,” Minerva Mc Gonagall called out. Time almost slowed to a standstill. This was it. This was the moment. Severus gulped once again and looked over to his new-found friends at the Gryffindor table, then saw an image of his disappointed mother and relatives. This could go two ways, and he wasn’t ecstatic about his chances. 

“You’re a disappointment to me,” exclaimed the projection of his father, ringing in his mind. 

“Just don’t let them bully you,” repeated his mother. 

Severus took a deep breath and looked over to Lucius at the head of the table. he was smirking, sure of the outcome that would come from this. A Prince, after all, was a Prince, in his eyes. 

He walked up to the stool and placed the hat over his head.


End file.
